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4 Step Overnight Marinara Sauce

I always thought it was difficult to make and freeze my own marinara sauce, but it’s pretty simple- as SO worth it. I HATE that almost all store bought spaghetti/marinara/tomato sauces have so much added sugar in them. For instance, Ragu Marinara contains high fructose corn syrup, and natural flavors-whatever that means. It is difficult to find a truly healthy sauce- many contain hydrogenated oils, or artificial colors or flavors. Not only that, but when you make your own the ingredients are at their freshest, they are at the peak of their nutritional value, and you know exactly what is going in it!(Source)Foodfacts.com gives the Old World Style Ragu marinara an “F”.

Now, I will be honest this marinara is delicious, but it does not taste like the store bought kind, which I think is a good thing! But! It does take a little while to get used to it- I prefer it now, but it is different. There are only 6 ingredients in this recipe, each can be tweaked to your own preference! I’m pretty sure I make it different every time because I never write the whole recipe down. Until now!

1. Boil a large pot of water. Have a large bowl of ice water next to your pot! While you are waiting for the water- core the tomatoes, don’t worry about chopping them up yet. After the water boils, turn it to low and allow it to simmer. Place 4-5 of the cored tomatoes in the water to blanch them. Leave them in the water for 40 seconds-1 minute. Spoon them out of the pot and place them in the ice water. Leave them in until they are cool enough to handle, and the skins should peel right off of the tomatoes. (If not-put them back in the boiling water for a minute)

2. We gut some of the tomatoes- just using our fingers so that the sauce isn’t watery and seedy, but it is all up to you. Leave the guts in, if you please. Chop up the tomatoes into chucks, or smaller if you want a smoother sauce.

3. Place chopped tomatoes into a crock pot. Bring the tomatoes up to a boil then turn the pot to low. Cover and go to bed!

3.5 If you would like to prepare the onions and garlic the night before adding them it will save you some time in the morning. Finely chop onions and garlic. Sautee the onion until translucent then add the garlic in for a couple of minutes- don’t burn the garlic!

4. The next morning add the onions, garlic, olive oil, honey, salt and pepper. Let simmer on low or warm for 5-8 more hours. Let cool and place in freezer bags! That’s it!

*If you don’t have access to fresh tomatoes you can use 3 (28oz) can whole or crushed tomatoes- or a combination of the two, as well as 1 (6oz) can of tomato paste.